Heretofore, reciprocating motors and turbines have converted the potential energy of pressurized steam and gases into mechanical energy.
Reciprocating motors lack efficiency because of the energy wasted overcoming the inertia of parts which move back and forth. Turbines are inefficient because the working fluid ricochets off of the blades instead of having the pressure confined and forcing the blades through their cycle. The result is that it is necessary to have many (at times thousands) of blades to receive the small forces applied and sum them at the shaft. This makes turbines expensive and complex structures of many parts. Each blade must be of critical dimension and be dynamically balanced for high speed operation. This makes them costly to make and install. Turbines cannot start from dead stop and deliver full power at low speeds. They require appreciable time to reach the extreme speeds at which they operate. This makes them not suitable for lower speed power demands when high-torque power is needed from a dead stop condition. Examples of this need are: submarines, military vehicles, ships, trains, trucks, automobiles, earth moving machinery, and shop motors. The high-speed operation of turbines requires gear reduction systems. This invention eliminates the need for expensive gear reduction and transmission systems.